Improvement in water-elevators



titties tat-ra gaat eine Letters Patent No. 93,373, dated August 3, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT vIN WATER-ELEVATORS.

'lhe Schec'xule referred to in these Letters Patent and 'making part Of the Same.

tion, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

The nature of my invention consists in a lnodication of the apparatus known in mines as man-engines,

whereby it is adapted to elevating water.

The specialties of this new apparatus, are-- First, that it forms a complete system of manengine, which it resembles by the forni of its two shafts, furnished with landing-stages and their alternate rising and falling movement.

Secondly, that 'the water is lifted and carried by buckets of convenient form, but variable, which, by approl'iriate mechanism, tip their contents, one into theI other, at the end of the lip-stroke, so that the water to be lifted is always in the shaft of the lift which is ascending,

The advantages ofthis apparatus overlifting-pumps are as follows A. Tile new apl'iaratus for lifting water, has neit-her valve, piston, nor stutiing-box. The parts subject to wear are axles moving slowly 'in their journals and lightly loaded. The repairs are, therefore, less frequentthan in brce-pulnps for great elevation, and there is nothing hidden ofthemechanism, so that it may be easily inspected every day.

B. This man-engine having a very great stroke, (about thirteen t'cet,) can be changed into a water-lifter, and allows ot' one shaft being used for the men and for raising water.

(Il. One motive-power suiices for raising water and for lifting the men, an importantconsideration for thel mines where the engine working the man-engine .is

only employed a few hours a day.

irrigating lands, by reason of the working not being liable to interruption by the earthy and solid matters which river-waters carry in suspension iu great quantities, especially in tropical and mountainous countries.

Two-pimien, a a', Figure 1 of the drawings annexed, are moved in opposite directions by the beams A and B, describing about a quart-er of a. circle, and united together by the rod C. These beams receive their movement from the connecting-rod D, which is itself put in motion by a rotating shaft.

At the lower extremity of each of these pitmeu a af, is suspended a system of rods or lit'ts l d', nearly similar tothose ordinarily employed in man-engines.

These two lifts are represented in the Figure 2. One

only is fully shown-in fig. 1, in order to avoid confusion in the drawing.-

These lifts are made of' a peculiar-shaped iron called in France zores, of which thc Figure 3 shows the section full size.

.ihe lifts are guided in a vertical plane by the rollers lr lr, iig. 1, working on the rails for one length of the stroke, and for the rest of their length by simple notches cut in the wooden or other traverses of thc shaft of the mine. (See also iig. 3.) y

lhe lifts are united by means ot' two iiat ropesor bands passing'over pulleys yr-, iigs. 1 and 2. This snspension serves also asameansot' safety. By repeating these pulleys at certain equal distances 1n deep mines,

the great weight of the lifts is supported and balanced. The lifts serve to support the buckets c e1 cL e, &c

tig. 2, placed at equal distances ii'om` one another, and

able to turn upon a horizontal axis or trunnions.

The buckets represented in tig. 2 are not shown in tig. 1whcre, in one of the lifts, the position of the axis of the bucket is shown by dotted lines. For a complete apparatus, three forms of buckets are required:

1irst, a pair of bucket-s eT a-nd e, iig. 2, represented separately by the two views, iigsft and 5. lhe bucketstill by innncrsion, the water entcringvby the opening determined by the brim :I: y.

Second, a pair of tipping-buckets, c" and ci, iig. 2, specially intended to empty the water at the surface of the earth, represented upon a larger' scale byl the Figures 7 and 8.

Third, pairs of intermediate buckets c e4 ot' iig. 2, and more especially indicated by the iigs. 6 'and 8.

The number of these buckets ot' course depends upon i the height the water has to be lifted.

Each bucket, in emptying, makes a little more than a quarter ot' a revolutionabout ninety-four degrees.

The number of buckets to be placed upon cach lift, depends upon the deptlrof the shaft and the output of the water on the capacity of the buckets and the number of strokes the lifts make in a giventime.

In our example, the distance of the buckets is 3* 20, and the stroke of the piston is 0 8O more, or four metres.

All the buckets ot' the same lift, counting from the rst or highest one, are united, one to the other, by the rods f j, so that the movement given to one bucket is imparted to all the others. .y

The quarter of a revolution that the buckets should have to empty theircontents, one Iinto 'the other, is given to them by the tappets g g, `y" y', g and g.

The tappets g and g', tig. 2, are placed a-ud xed by the side of the receptacle for the water at the surface tand i. They act upon the buckets e1 c2, placing'them,

one after the other, iii the position indicated in the drawing at e.

The two other tappets, f/ g and g g', g. 1, of which one o f the two only is visible, though partly hidden by the bucket e3 in the elevation, tig. 2, are .fixed to the wooden traverses of the shaft. Their form is simply' an inclined plane, the rst two tappets forming an angle of about fifty-eight degrees, the two others of twenty-eight degrees.

From the preceding indication, the working of the r' apparatus will be easily understood by referringto the drawings annexed. l

The right lift, attached to the rod a, is at the end of its up-stroke whilst-the left lift isat its lowest point.

The bucket c is filled -by immersion, the water tilling it, as indicated bythe arrows near y, where the side of the back part ofthe bucket is opened for a suicient depth. .lhe bucket never fills higher than the stop'y, which exactly determines the quantity of water lifted at each stroke.

All thc otherbickets are made of such a capacity, that after receiving the contents of the buckets c7 c, the level of the water shall be low enough to avoid any spilling.

The level of water of a full bucket ought to be about ten centimetrcs below the spout, so that it shall not begin to tip its contents till it is inclined eighteen degrees. By these means, and with a well-chosen form of spout, all loss is avoided in tipping one bucket ut' water into the other.

Thilst the bucket c" is filling by immersion in the reservoir of the shaft, the buckets c, c4, and c2, have been filled in the same time by the bucketsI 17, c, and

c, whilst the highest one of all, c, has poured out its contents on the surface.

At each simple stroke of the piston, all thebuckets of the lift which is descending, are empty, whilst those upon the ascending lift are full. Each stroke of Ithe piston, therefore, carries to the sulfiice-outlet the contents of one bucket. The normal position of the buckets is vert-ical, as the drawing shows for the full buckets on the left lift.

In order that the buckets shall right themselves after they are discharged, and retain that position when they are charged up to the time they strike the tappets, each bucket is fitted at its base with a brace to the trunnion, or a prolongation that' passes under the buckets in the form of a bent axle, to give them the necessary weight to keep them constantly vertical, figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

The union-rods f f act in the same way by their 'weight to right the buckets when the rollers quit the tappets.

'lhe lighted buckets ought to rest against a pin fixed in the lifts, so that all the swinging may be avoided.

The traverse or bar S, serves also to right the buckets in case the counterweight has not acted.

On calculating the work spent to lift the water and to tip it at the end of each stroke into the opposite buckets, and including the force absorbed by the friction of the axles and the displacement of the counterpoise, also taking into account the actual weight of wat-er put out, and comparing the force expended with the useful effect obtained, it will be found to vgive'a.,

useful effect of about eighty-two per cent.

The drawings annexed show that the motion is imlt is in' this way that the man-engines of theoal Company of lEsperance de la Ste. John Cockerell de Seraing are worked. In all cases it will'be indispensable \to adopt an arrangement that will admit of the speed of thestwke being slackened at the end of cach stroke.

Considering that such an arrangement does -not belong absolutely to a general plan of my invention, which consists, in the present case, in lifting water in a novel manner, I shallnot say more upon this point.

\Vhen the apparatus is to be used as a manLengine, the buckets must be emptied by tipping, to do which, tlie union-rodsV c* and -ca must be unhooked after which the apparatus will empty itself in ln-I SUOkes, when a indicates the number of buckets on a lift. The stroke is then shortened from 4' to 3 20c.

In the mechanisml indicated in our design, this're` duction is obtained My taking out the wedges q q vof the beam A, fig. 1, and moving the parts slowly, which displaces the sliding catch p ofthe connecting-rod, carrying it into the second position, after which thewedges q q are again inserted, and the connecting-rod is re-` lixed so as to give the lifts a stroke of 3;20.

VVit-h' a stroke of 3' 20, the traycrses l 1,0 o, &c., of thetwo lifts, will be opposite each other, or at a level at the end'o'f each stroke.

. In using'these traverses4 l las lamling-stages for the feet, andthe parallel traverses o o, shoulder height, for the grasp of tho hand ofthe miner, when he steps out the lift going up or down, as he desires, the apparatus will bc identical with the man-engines, that is to say, there is no essential difference with the ordinary kind.

The landing-stages Z' and l, correspond, or nearly so, to the level of the galleries M and N, as the landing-stages l" and l B, with the galleries or floors for leaving A and B. It is possible to establish, upon the traverse l, a landing-stage in wood more connnodions, which will hold at least two men at once.

The. capacity' of the buckets, according to the di-` mensons indicated, is three hundred and fifty litres, or about three hundred and fifty quarts. rlhe apparatus not containing any water when heilig used as a man engine, can then be used in all safety with a load np to three hundred and fifty kilos, or about eight hundred and seventy pounds per landing-stage.

That I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

lhe arrangement of the tipping-buckets for lifting water, in combination with the man-engine, substan tially as specified. l

1n testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, in presence of two subscribing witnesses. Y

P. VAN DYK.

Witnesses I). KnoPoELD, Amir. Vnvnn. 

